How Now Brown Cow

I went to my second Doctor's appointment yesterday. My hubby went with me. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was awesome. I have gained more weight than I should, but I told them that I did not think that was accurate because I had just eaten a HUGE lunch. You know it was Administrative Professionals Day and my boss took me to lunch. Anyway now I feel like a cow. It's not like I am eating food that is bad for me all the time. I have increased my dairy intake (for calcium) and fruits and veggies, just like all the books tell you to do. I have started eating a decent breakfast. I guess I need to stop resting so much and get out and get some exercise. I also found out that I have A+ blood. Even my blood is an overachiever, that was what I was thinking when the doctor told me my blood type. I am also 12 weeks today, which means I have reached the end of the first trimester. The risks for birth defects and miscarriage are greatly reduced now. The doctor said that everything looked fine and the heartbeat sounded great, so I will go back in 4 weeks for another check-up.

Happy Administrative Professional's Day

Happy Administrative Professional's Day! Go ahead have that Margarita at lunch, you deserve it for the crap that you have to put up with at work. I hope every one of you AP's get something good. I don't know what I will get, but I do know that my boss will take me to lunch. I had to remind him yesterday that this day was coming. You see he sometimes forgets things like birthdays, AP's day, etc. I have a nice little gift for my office assistant. I wish I could afford to get her something really good, but hey do I look like I make the big bucks? Afterall, it is the thought that counts and I thought about it so that counts right? No seriously, I think it is fabulous that we get recognized for doing our jobs, after all bosses have bosses day and we all know that the AP's work harder. So take off your shoes, prop your feet up on your desk, turn your radio up loud and enjoy your day!

I need your help...

I have a friend, let's call him C, who is graduating from not one but 2 colleges in a few weeks. He is super smart, worked very hard for it and managed to do double duty in college and graduate from both colleges. I received my invitation the other day and I know I can't go. He lives like 10 hours away from me and I just can't make that trip right now. I would love to go, I haven't seen him in a few years, but it's not gonna happen. Anyway, my dilema, what do I get him. Do I get him a gift and send it to him, do I send money? What do you get for someone who is nearly 30, you haven't seen in a few years, yet you have known since you were 12. HELP!

All apologies...

I am really pissed off right now. I wrote this very long post this morning about my sister and when I got ready to publish it something went wrong and now all my hard work is gone. I don't have it saved anywhere else, stupid me! I am at work so I don't have time to rewrite it. So I am screwed when it comes to a post for today. Maybe I can rewrite it this weekend and post it on Monday. Have a good weekend.

My date with Lance Armstrong

So I have a date with Lance Armstrong this afternoon. Is there anything that you would like for me to tell him for you? Okay so I don't actually have a date with him, but he will be racing right by my office this afternoon. Today is the beginning of the 3rd Tour de Georgia. This is the second year that Lance has graced us with his presence. What a way to get support for your little bike race, have Lance race in it. The racers will speed into town this afternoon sometime around 3 or 4 and the entire downtown area will shutdown until the last racer has passed. It usually takes about 12 minutes or so. That means that I will get an extra 12 minutes outside today (away from my desk) to cheer on the cyclists. Whoo Hoo!!! Yes I am excited, it is a very fun thing to watch those men in those little tight biking outfits go whizzing by. Last year someone had a whole in the rear of his pants. It was extremely funny, well I am sure that it was not funny to him, but to those who delight in others misfortunes it was very funny! Anyway I will scream extra loud for those of you who can't join me at this historic event! Hope you have a fabulous Tuesday.

Champions on Ice at the Tea Party and other things...

I have such a busy weekend, I am exhausted just thinking about it. Tonight I am going with my child, mom-in-law, and sister-in-law to see the Champions on Ice. How exciting!!!! Don't you wish you could come too? No seriously it should be a great show, if I can stay awake. You know this whole pregnant thing is really tiring. It makes tasks like staying awake past nine a real challenge.

Tomorrow my child has a 10:15 soccer game. Then immediately after the game we have to rush to a nearby city for my husband's grandmother's 85th birthday party. It is a surprise tea party at the same place my child's party was at in January, so please don't tell her. I was really looking forward to it until I found out a cousin's wife that I don't particularly care for will be there. It will be my first time seeing some of these relatives since we found out that I'm pregnant so that should be fun. I get to answer all the same questions, how far along are you...do you want a boy or a girl...do you have any names picked out yet...when are you due... fun, fun, fun! On top of all that we haven't gotten her a gift yet. I guess I can get my hubby to go pick her out something real nice while I am at the Ice Skating show. What do you get an 85 year old woman that has everything?

In addition to all that my neice is still in the hospital. It is definatley(is that right?) a staph infection. It has decided to also take residence in her lungs so she is coughing up this really pretty stuff. She is still on super strong antibiotics and she will not be able to go home until she is fever-free for 24 hours. The swelling has gone down in her face and she is beginning to look like her self again instead of one of the monkeys from Planet of the Apes. I hope she is well soon. She is really sad that she is missing her softball games and school. So I have to try to find some time this weekend to go visit her in the hospital.

I think I need a longer weekend!!!

Tuesday Trauma

So I am sitting here at work, you know just working and my phone rings. My phone rings quite a bit throughout the day, so I answered it like I normally do. The voice on the other end of the phone was not one that often calls me so I was a little shocked when she started talking. It was my sister M. Usually when she calls, she needs a favor or something along those lines so it kind of annoyed me when I heard her voice.

"This is sunShine, can I help you?"

"Hey, mom wanted me to call you and let you know that J is in the hospital."
J is my 14 year old neice. Immediately I begin to tear up as I listen to her explain to me what they think is wrong. She pleads with me not to cry or get upset, afterall I am pregnant. My mom gets on the phone and I immediately lose it and am sitting here at my desk at work crying my eyes out. I tell them that I will be there as soon as I get off work, but if they need me before then to let me know because I am only 2 blocks from the hospital.

Turns out she has cellulitis in her face, caused by a pimple that she kept picking at and it got a nasty very aggressive infection that attacked her little body. The infection has irritated any scratches or ant bites or any superficial cut on her body and infected them too. It also made her so sick that she has not been able to keep any food down and she was so dehydrated that she had lost 5 lbs in 2 days. It also has made her face swell so bad that she can barely open her eyes. They have ran all kinds of tests and are growing the cultures of the bacteria at this very moment in a lab somewhere to see exactly what it is that attacked her. Good news is that her fever has come way down, it was 104 and when I left the hospital last night it was 100.3. She seems to be responding well to the antibiotics and she was able to keep some food down last night. She seems to be on the road to recovery! Hopefully she will get to go home tomorrow.

It just hurts me so much to think about any of my neices in pain or sick. It is just such a helpless feeling. She looks so small and frail in that big hospital bed hooked to those tubes and machines. I just want to run in and grab her out of the bed and hold her close to me and make it all go away. I guess no matter how much you want to, you can't protect them from everything. Sometimes kids have to go throught things alone and all you can do is stand my them and be there for them.

I was there when J was born. Her dad came out to the waiting room to tell us that she was here and my mom and I rushed back there to see her and my sister. I held that tiny little angel in my arms and my mom uncovered her and we counted her 10 perfect little fingers and 10 perfect little toes. Since that day she has been perfect in my eyes. She spent so much time with me when she was a small child. You know I was the cool aunt. The one with no kids of her own that loved to shop and take them to do fun stuff. She has grown up so much now that she would rather be with her friends and I understand that, but sometimes I miss the little rosy cheeked kid who just wanted to stay with me. She does occassionally take a break from her teenage life and spend the night with me and we order pizza and stay up late watching movies and talking.

Weekend Wanderings

I had a good birthday weekend! I got lots of sleep on Friday night and Saturday, which was wonderful. Hubby and I went to the movies with his family on Saturday night and went out to eat. We went to see "Hitch". Have you seen it? It was so funny! We had a great time.

Then on Sunday we worked in the yard. Of course I did not do much. I planted a few seeds and bulbs and pruned the rose bushes. All that yard work that I didn't do has my back hurting this morning. It was worth it, our yard looks so beautiful right now. All the azaleas and dogwoods are blooming. We also have some purple wisteria mixed in the trees that is in full bloom. Now that the grass is cut and the gutters are cleaned it looks great.

We also did something else this weekend. My hubby and I switched sides of the bed. I have slept on the same side of the bed forever. I mean really since I have shared a bed with someone else I have slept on the same side of the bed. We have read that while you are pregnant, especially in the latter months it is better for you and the baby for you to sleep on your left side. Well I want to do everything that I can to keep my little fetus happy so I am trying to learn to sleep on my left side. I wake up during the night and I am on my right side again, of course. So I have to roll over and try to get comfy on my left side. So far it hasn't been too bad being on the opposite side of the bed. The only thing that worries me about being on this side of the bed is that it is closest to the door, which means if someone were to come in during the night they would get me first. We all hope that won't happen, but wouldn't it make you feel better to have your hubby sleeping closest to the door, just in case.

Happy Birthday to me...

My birthday is on Saturday! I will be 29. One year closer to 30. So far I have had 2 parties (and cakes) in my honor and we are having another one today at lunch at work. It is always nice to be honored and celebrated. Although it does make me feel a bit stupid to be the center of everyone singing off key Happy Birthday to me! Birthday parties are always fun, right?. Some part of me has always dreaded my birthday. I nearly have an anxiety attack thinking about being that center of attention. I hate for everyone to be watching me opening my gifts. I have never liked being the center of attention in a crowd. I have always vowed to kill anyone that told the waitress at a restaurant that it was my birthday. How horrible to have the whole freakin' restaurant looking at you singing to you! The thought of that just makes me want to crawl under the table and hide. Yeah, yeah I know I should lighten up and be happy that all those people are singing to me. (rolling my eyes) Deep down I don't know why I dread birthdays so much. I love getting gifts and being pampered, that is what birthdays are all about right? Anyway think about me on Saturday because that will be my birthday.

Driving Miss Daisy

I was waiting in the slow drive thru of a fast food restaurant today at lunch and a song was on the radio that brought back memories. It was a country song about learning to drive. Do you remember when you first learned to drive? I was 10 when I took my first driving lesson. Yes you heard me correctly, 10 years old. I grew up in the country, on a Georgia red dirt road to be exact. My sister had a mint green Camaro, I loved that car. She was way older than me, 11 years to be exact. One day she was at the house visiting and she asked me if I wanted to learn to drive. Well, yeah! What 10 year old doesn't dream of driving. So we got in the car, me seated on a few pillows so I could see over the hood. I cranked the car and put it in drive and away we went. We only drove a few miles but it seemed like a long time to me. I was so scared, everytime we met a car on the road I pulled over to the side to let them drive by me. I still had a lot to learn about driving, heck sometimes I think I still do. I bet I did not drive over about 30 miles an hour that day. I felt so grown up driving! Now it is almost a chore, a must to get from point A to point B. Isn't it funny how a song can spark a memory?